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Prince of Darkness (Collector's Edition) [Blu-ray]

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Format: Multi-Format September 24, 2013


Description

Master of horror John Carpenter (HALLOWEEN, THE THING) directs this terrifying battle between mankind and the ultimate evil. A group of graduate students and scientists uncover an ancient canister in an abandoned church, but when they open it, they inadvertently unleash a strange liquid and an evil force on all of humanity. As the liquid turns their co- workers into zombies, the remaining members realize they have released the most unspeakable horror of them all. Terror mounts as the team must fight to save the world from a devilish fury that has been contained for over seven million years. Though regarded by many as one of writer-director John Carpenter's lesser efforts, Scream Factory gives Prince of Darkness the deluxe treatment with this Blu-ray presentation. As with previous releases from the Shout! Factory imprint, the supplemental features on Prince of Darkness are a mix of new material recorded specifically for the disc and extras from previous DVD releases. Chief among the latter is a commentary track featuring Carpenter and veteran character actor Peter Jason (Deadwood), who made his first of seven eventual collaborations with the director on this picture. Carpenter is typically phlegmatic if informative, discussing in detail the initial concepts for the film, as well as its locations, special effects, and his score with Alan Howarth. Carpenter is also quite frank in his opinion of Darkness, which he seems to regard (like many viewers) as somewhat incomprehensible (despite the fact that he wrote it as Martin Quatermass). But his rapport with Jason is enjoyable, and Carpenter provides even more detail on the film's inception and execution in the ten-plus-minute interview segment Sympathy for the Devil, which features, among other comments, the scientific and philosophical origins of the project, as well as his interest in retaining greater control over his work. Rocker Alice Cooper, whose involvement with the film came through his manager, executive producer Shep Gordon (whose company, Alive Films, co-funded the picture as well as Carpenter's They Live and Village of the Damned), is front and center in a lively nine-minute interview piece that focuses on his love for horror movies and his brief acting turn in the picture. Co-composer Alan Howarth gets the spotlight in a ten-minute interview that provides some insight into his musical collaborations with Carpenter, while actor/special effects supervisor Robert Grasmere, who played the doubtful member of the investigative team while also wrangling the massive canister, which apparently leaked on a regular basis, earns his own interview. A segment of Horror's Hallowed Grounds has host Sean Clark revisiting many of the film's locations, including the church and control center (now a movie theater). The rest of the extras are an interesting mixed bag of promotional material--numerous advertisements and promotional stills, as well as a radio spot and theatrical trailer--and a pair of rare items: the alternate opening from the TV broadcast version, which intimates (in a very obtuse manner) that the events in the film might be a dream, and an Easter Egg (easily found on the bonus menu) that reveals a Q&A session with Carpenter about the picture at a 2012 screening at Screamfest. --Paul Gaita

Genre: Horror/Supernatural


Format: NTSC, Blu-ray, Anamorphic, Widescreen, Multiple Formats


Contributor: Robert Grasmere, Ann Howard, Jessie Lawrence Ferguson, Dennis Dun, Anne Howard, Lisa Blount, John Carpenter, Ann Yen, Ken Wright, Peter Jason, Susan Blanchard, Larry Franco, Victor Wong, Thom Bray, Joanna Merlin, Alice Cooper, Jameson Parker, Donald Pleasence, Dirk Blocker, Jesse Lawrence Ferguson See more


Language: English


Runtime: 1 hour and 42 minutes


Is Discontinued By Manufacturer ‏ : ‎ No


MPAA rating ‏ : ‎ R (Restricted)


Product Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 0.7 x 7.5 x 5.4 inches; 0.01 ounces


Item model number ‏ : ‎ 26923842


Director ‏ : ‎ John Carpenter


Media Format ‏ : ‎ NTSC, Blu-ray, Anamorphic, Widescreen, Multiple Formats


Run time ‏ : ‎ 1 hour and 42 minutes


Release date ‏ : ‎ September 24, 2013


Actors ‏ : ‎ Donald Pleasence, Jameson Parker, Victor Wong, Lisa Blount, Dennis Dun


Subtitles: ‏ ‎ English, English


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Top Amazon Reviews

    • Most terrifying horror movie I've ever seen!
First, put aside any notions about the plot or acting...just focus on the imagery that John Carpenter brings in this film. The image of the green, swirling mass in the decaying container is horrifying. Now imagine it's in the sub-sub basement of an abandoned church....down in a part dating back to the 1500's. And imagine a secret sect of priests charged with containing this swirling mass within the vessel. Pretty intense. The visuals that John Carpenter created in this movie are without question, the most memorable, horrifying and chilling images that I've ever seen on screen. I've never had another movie that gave me literal chills like this--and purely from the imagery alone. I saw it ages ago when I was really too young--someone got a video at some point after it had been out, and I was terrified by the movie then--and remember the scary images to this day! I bought a streaming version recently and re-watched it--It's just as chilling as it was when I was little. The abandoned church, the swirling mass of green/evil, and the most horrifying part--the dream that kept recurring throughout the film....absolutely spine tingling!!!! As much as I've tried to convince myself the swirling mass of green looks oddly like a Star Trek swirl-type warpcore, I simply can't...the visual of that swirling container, in the church basement, surrounded by thousands of crucifixes--it's horrific and beautiful at the same time. Cinematic fabulousness! And the dream that everyone kept having--chilling! There are snippets of voices in the dream sequence, and you can feel the sense of terror building as you slowly begin to process what the voices are saying, as the camera pans closer and closer to a doorway where something shadowy and evil is about to step foot out into the world... It's done incredibly well, and relies on human fear-instinct and dream terror to evoke a tremendous sense of dread as the camera pans towards the figure. It's reminiscent of The Fog, with the slowly creeping fog, and the hook that invariably appears as you feel goosebumps rising. Very John Carpenter. Now, the not-so-great. The movie is rather dated. The dream sequence, while still terrifying, has a very 80's quality about it....smoke machine, fan, figure standing in a doorway--I could be watching a Bonnie Tyler video if I didn't know better--or any number of other 80's videos/movies. It seemed the smoke machine/fan/shadowy figure was a requirement of the 80's video production. While that aspect is logically very mundane and dull, Carpenter has been able to include the buildup of terror as the camera pans, so it becomes more than an 80's music video and instead becomes this looming horror. Very well done for a trope that could be dated and trite. As an 80's flick, the characters interactions seem very foreign to what we're used to now. For example, Brian's initial interest in Catherine on campus, seems more like scary-stalker-guy than average college guy in love/lust. Not having seen the movie in ages and having been traumatized by it, I probably forgot that there was the whole love affair between the two characters that developed(quickly). Seeing it now, in today's context, he seems creepy and needs a good spray of mace. Only in the 80's would his weird obsessive brooding be considered 'courting'or whatever...today I'd call it 'stalking'. Just saying.... Now the plot. There's alot of plot that happens fast so it's confusing and weird. There's time travel involved, messages from the future, old-time religion, good vs. evil, Satan vs. God, etc. Basically they try to intertwine religion and science(time travel and quantum mechanics). It gets tiresome quickly. I think it would be a better movie to stick with maybe good vs. evil or satan vs. god... Trying to tie metaphysics to science is tricky and takes away from the chill factor. Alice Cooper. Yes who doesn't love Alice? But I found him to be a distracting factor. It was like, "Look! We got a rock star to appear in our movie--gonna come see it now?!!!" His role wasn't super complicated...any day-player could have done the role, so again, using Alice Cooper's celebrity to 'lure' viewers is kinda sketchy. It's like they didn't think the movie could stand on it's own merit, but that's totally not the case. Donald Pleasence as the priest...didn't work for me. I think this came out in '87 or so, so he'd already done at least a few horror movies and was the one with a gun chasing down the killer. Seeing him cowering behind a boiler seemed so odd and out of place. His character didn't work for me either. When he took charge of supervising the green slime container after it's original priest died, he seemed like he was afraid(rightfully so) but never seemed confident or caring enough to try to stop the evil from being released. I won't spoil anything, just saying he does't seem like he would put up a fight to keep the container closed....the priests from The Exorcist seemed like they'd put up a pretty good fight, while this one seemed to say oh well end of the world, whatcha gonna do.... Overall this movie is as terrifying as it was to me years ago. It's creepy, scary and terrifying in all the right ways. There are plot holes and character issues, but the cinematography make it all worthwhile. Still one of, if not the, most terrifying films I've ever seen. Def recommend! ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on October 24, 2019 by Denise H.
    • A Carpenter cult classic in a beautiful new transfer!
Prince of Darkness is a strange movie written by Carpenter and combining religion and theoretical quantum physics. It sounds like a contradictory combination but, it works better then you might expect. The story opens with the death of a priest who presided over a small inner city parish. Enter Donald Pleasance as another priest... who's name is never given... who discovers that the deceased priest was part of a secret society within the church called The Brotherhood Of Sleep. And this sect have been protecting a dark secret that may challenge the very core of what we have come to believe both scientifically and religiously. A team of college students, led by Professor Birack (Victor Wong from Big Trouble In Little China) and including Brian Marsh (Jameson Parker) and Catherine Danforth (Lisa Blount), are brought to the parish to investigate a strange cylinder filled with a pulsating green liquid in a locked chamber in the basement, as well as, the scriptures that come with it. They discover that the liquid is a form of the Anti-Christ and it seeks release in order to bring it's father, the Anti-God into our world. And as members of the team start to fall under it's powerful thrall and they all become plagued by the same strange dreams, it's terrifyingly obvious that the remaining team members are in a fight against an ancient evil that their science may not be able to contain. Carpenter delivers a very odd but, effectively creepy film. It's has an atmosphere of dread from the start to the finish and presents a very chilling scenario that there may be things in existence that neither our religion or science may be able to handle. And as these are two things people most put their faith in, it is a disturbing concept. It also presents an interesting idea that Bible prophecies may have actually been warnings sent from the future as the dream effecting all our college science students appears to be exactly that. Carpenter also presents the possibility that certain Bible stories were put in place to cover more disturbing truths as the scientific knowledge to explain or understand the reality of it was not available. Basically we were told things in fable form because the science wasn't there to properly explain it and we weren't advanced enough to understand it. As someone who was born and raised Christian yet has always had an interest in science, I actually have had this thought myself occasionally and it was interesting to see the master filmmaker weave this theory into his plot. Carpenter also uses his low budget well and keeps the story, for the most part contained in the church. Again working with the fear of isolation as a horde of homicidal homeless people keep our besieged team members inside. Gary B. Kibbe provides the atmospheric cinematography and would collaborate with Carpenter on 7 more projects and he gives Prince a very unsettling look yet, rich with color. This is a strange film that may not appeal to everyone, it took me a few years and repeat viewings before I fully appreciated it and it's grown on me since I first saw it in 87 and wasn't quite sold on it then. The film has it's flaws, some of the make-up FX are cheesy and some of the violent death scenes, especially those perpetrated by the army of homeless people surrounding the church, lead by Alice Cooper, seem a little out of place in a film that starts out working in subtlety. But, since it does switch gears and become more of a traditional horror film in it's second half, as the possessed students try to kill or possess the others who are fighting against their former friends to stay alive, so, in the overall scheme they work fine. Some may not have patience for some of the science heavy dialog but, I though Carpenter's script does a good job of giving scientific explanations for some of the more supernatural elements of the religious scripture presented in his story. Regardless of your beliefs, Carpenter poses some interesting questions and the film is really creepy throughout. And adding to the effectiveness is one of Carpenter's spookiest scores to date composed with frequent collaborator Alan Howarth. Overall, Prince Of Darkness is perhaps Carpenter's oddest and most daring film, in some respects but, yet another that wasn't all that well accepted at first and now has gained a following over the years and rightfully so. This flick may not be for everyone and it's mix of science and religion may not work for some but, I think it's an interesting and thoroughly creepy movie that not only presents some well executed traditional horror elements but, poses some interesting questions and theories about what we believe in as well. Also stars another Big Trouble In Little China, Dennis Dun in a fun role as a skeptical student. The film is now available in this beautiful new transfer from Scream Factory! ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on July 19, 2014 by MonsterZeroNJ
    • Great Movie
One of my top 10 horror movies, great movie.
Reviewed in the United States on June 9, 2024 by Greg Reyero

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